Celebrating One Year of Happy Marriage and Good Food!

Last Saturday was Kyle and my one year anniversary—I know it is cliché, but it really is amazing how quickly a year can pass when it’s full of happy memories. We started off our celebration weekend with a family dinner at our house. My godmother (or fairy godmother as I used to call her), was in town from Japan and we were able to celebrate her birthday as well. We feasted on some fat, butter dripping lobsters, fresh caprese salad with tomatoes from our yard, a crispy green salad, grilled corn, zucchini, walla walla onions, and grilled garlic prawns.

Masako, my mom Gail, Kyle's parents Steve and Joyce, and Kyle serving up our good eats

We made good use of some of our favorite wedding presents: our silverware, wine glasses and dinnerware!

Serving up the food!

My dad boiled the lobster first (something I refuse to do, the poor things!) and then cut each in half before grilling them. He drizzled garlic butter over the top as they cooked--it was sinfully delicious!

We also brought out our wedding cake topper for dessert. One year ago, the cake was the best I had ever tasted—Kyle’s Auntie Cheri slaved over the white cake with lilikoi (passion fruit) curd and coconut Italian butter cream frosting. When Kyle fed me the first piece at our wedding, I was in heaven. Now, one year later, and after having lived in our crappy, 1980s freezer, it tasted similar to that mouth-watering cake we had once had, but with a slight aftertaste of frozen peas and freezer burn! Oh well. We also toasted with the last bottle of our white wine from the wedding and our wedding champagne. All in all, the night was full of wonderful food, great company, and memories we will cherish as we reminisce at many more future anniversaries!

In addition to the wedding cake, we enjoyed chocolate covered strawberries and mini lemon tarts and chocolate pudding cups (for those of you frequent bloggers, yes, these were leftovers from Becca's shower!)

Reliving our wedding reception: cutting the cake!

Here is my grilled garlic prawns recipe that we enjoyed at the party. It has always been a tasty addition to seafood feasts, or just a simple and yummy appetizer for parties:

Ingredients:
2 lbs large prawns (or however much you need for your group), de-veined and de-shelled
3 parts Olive Oil to 1 part Balsamic Vinegar and 1 part Sugar (ex. 1 cup Olive Oil, 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar, 1/3 cup sugar)
A good squirt of Siracha (Asian Hot Sauce)—this is optional and adds a little heat to the shrimp
A good sized handful of Thai basil, chopped (very important, it is sweeter and more flavorful than traditional basil)
A good sized handful of fresh cilantro, chopped
4 tablespoons fresh minced garlic

Throw everything into a large ziplock bag and marinate up to one day (a couple of hours is OK, too). Be sure to put it in a refrigerator that you don’t use too often because it can stink up the whole fridge. Or, just get a baking soda box to soak up odors! When ready to grill, skewer shrimp on bamboo skewers and put on grill (you can also use a grill pan on your stovetop) until the shrimp are slightly blackened (this is the sugar burning, it adds a nice, almost caramelized flavor). Serve immediately and enjoy!